Is it necessary to dismantle it? I've stripped/sanded/painted two grilles without taking them apart, and two toned both of them. I think it 6 of one half or dozen of the other. All depends if you have a lot of rust or damage to repair. The thought of all those rivits and clips parts and pieces, no way!
Based on what I found when I disassembled mine I'd definitely recommend it. There is rust between the parts that really should go and it's a lot easier to paint individual parts than it is to mask everything. They are really not that complicated to put back together, each part has notches so they match up and if you get one of the hardware kits you'll have everything you need.
The only difficult part would be using rivets. The 3/16 pop rivets that come in the hardware kit need a lot of muscle to set. I used screws and nuts because you can't see them once the grille is on the truck.
I ground all my rivets when I took them out.
It's a fun project IMO.
